Browse Category: friends

It’s a Masaya Birthday!

Paragon

The Masayas’ birthdays are only 2 days apart so there was a little dinner on Monday and a big Happy Hour on Friday.

Americano

They had a pretty good showing and I even bumped into an old friend from UCLA there! By the end of the night, we were all a little tipsy since the drinks were flowin’ and there was a lack of food.  Afterwards, we met up with the Bangs at Hi-Dive for a tasty burger and fries.  Surprisingly, I’m feeling pretty good this morning but I think I might give the birthday girl a call today to check on her.

Here are photos from last night.

Mr. Grumpy Pants

Mad

Little J came over for dinner with his parents and boy oh boy have the Terrible Twos arrived early! Maybe he’s teething, maybe he’s still sick, or maybe he’s just plain grumpy. All I know is that he’s got the tantrum down solid and showed off his skills today. He clung to Michelle, cried intermittently for no reason, and didn’t eat as much as he usually does. My favorite move of the night was the Super Turtle Tantrum, which entails crying while curled up in a ball with his head down on the floor. I was too slow with the camera today and didn’t get a photo of it. He’s smart enough to even place his hand down between the floor and his head for extra padding.

Koa and Crying J

Koa would come by to console him but that just made him madder. I guess he doesn’t like his ears licked.  He apparently knows how to say he’s mad by giving out a big faker cry and saying “Maaaa!” (That’s a drawn out “mad” without the “d” at the end.)  I couldn’t help laughing at him and it was pretty cute but his parents are not happy with this turn of events.  Hopefully this will be a short phase in their life.  But in the meantime, if you guys need to drop him off for a few hours, holla at me.  I can take the whining.

Christmas Roundup

With only 2 full days left of my vacation in Southern CA, it was pretty crazy trying to squeeze in some quality time with my loved ones.  It was fun but felt more like a buffet where I got a taste of everything but nothing was totally satisfying and made me want to have more of the real deal.  In other words, I’m already trying to figure out how and when I’ll be able to make another trip down to LA to hang out with the locals and make a trip to the east coast to visit the out-of-towners for some REAL quality time.

Here’s what went down…

**FRIDAY**

I felt ill that morning and had a really hard time getting up.  The body aches and chills were so bad that I ended up canceling Koa’s vet appointment that morning.  Dog totally lucked out.  For lunch, we had Jes’ favorite ramen at Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa.  Afterward, we headed over to the BMW dealership and purchased a little somethin’ for the ride back to SF.  More details about the car later.

In the afternoon, I met up with my old PTN Pals at the Starbucks next to our Irvine house.

For dinner, we had Chinese food with the old gang.  Aw…I love group photos.

After dinner, the Agustins met up with us for drinks and a truly unique Cerritos experience.

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**SATURDAY**

I woke up feeling a little better and headed up to Beverly Hills to meet up with my UCLA girls for brunch at Campanile. Catching up is so much fun but makes me miss them even more when it’s over.

In the afternoon, I went to hang out with the parents and it’s always nice to be home. It’s just too bad that it only lasted a couple hours. I had to head back to BP to get the CR-V tidied up and deliver it to it’s final destination.

For dinner, I met up with my Whitney girls at Cafe Hiro.  It’s a cute Japanese/Italian place in the middle of suburbia.  We got to chat over tuna tataki and risotto.  I had so much fun, girls! I miss our monthly dinners!

The final stop for the night was my auntie and uncle’s house in Cerritos where Marie and the gang were waiting for me.  The boys are getting so big and I miss them so much.  Unfortunately, by the end of the night, I had lost my voice and went straight to bed.

On Sunday morning, we went to church, said our goodbyes to Jes’ parents, aunt, uncle, and family friends.  We swung by my parents’ house to pick up Koa and said our goodbyes to them too.  In what felt like a flash, we were back on the road for another 7-hour car ride.  Phew.

Here are photos of my entire Christmas season.  Enjoy!

Lotsa Pie

The Sokol-Juns hosted another Pie Party this afternoon and there were some pretty tasty ones this year.  I made an apple pie again this year and got to experiment with my new decorative pie crust cutters (photos coming soon).  The winners for me this year were Vyl’s Chicken Pot Pie and Michelle’s Lemon Chess.  Vyl ended up winning the contest and was well-deserved.  Even Jes was surprisingly impressed. 😉

Here are the photos.

The Old Guys

Both Bang and Ryan turned 34 this month and they were celebrated within about a week of each other. We went out for Happy Hour two Fridays ago for Bang’s and then dinner last night for Ryan’s.

Happy Birthday, Old Guys!

Phoenix Photos

With all the craziness of getting paperwork graded and fina exam questions written, I neglected all of the photos I took in Phoenix.  I finally went through and uploaded a few.  For being the 5th largest city in the U.S., Phoenix certainly needs to grow just a little more for me to return.  My visit felt similar to my visit to Charlotte where downtown wasn’t much more than a few tall buildings and anything outside of that was residential or rural-looking.  Their Children’s Hospital is beautiful and brand-spankin’ new.  So was the Sheraton.  The 2-day workshop was helpful and it was a lot of fun catching up with Elaine and Arlene who also attended the course with me.

Here are the photos from my weekend in Phoenix, Arizona.